Abstract
Purpose
To describe the relationship of retinal vascular calibre with diabetes and diabetic retinopathy in an Asian population.
Methods
A total of 3280 (78.7% response) subjects, aged 40–80 years, of Malay ethnicity residing in Singapore participated in this population-based, cross-sectional study. Retinal vascular calibre was measured and summarized using a validated computer programme from digital retinal photographs. Diabetic retinopathy signs were graded from photographs using the modified Airlie House classification.
Results
Of the 3004 subjects with data for this analysis, 682 (22.7%) had diabetes, of whom 194 (28.4%) had retinopathy. After multivariable adjustment, retinal arteriolar calibre was significantly wider in persons with diabetes (141 vs139 μm, P<0.001); venular calibre was not associated with diabetes (P=0.93). Among participants with diabetes, venular calibre increased from 218.7 μm in those without retinopathy to 231.1 μm in those with moderate and 231.4 μm in those with severe retinopathy (Pfor trend=<0.001); arteriolar calibre was not associated with diabetic retinopathy.
Conclusions
This study shows wider retinal arterioles in diabetes and wider venules in those with diabetic retinopathy in an Asian population. These findings confirm earlier data on white population, supporting the concept that a quantitative assessment of retinal vasculature may provide further insights into early diabetic microvascular damage.
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Acknowledgements
We thank the staff and participants in the SiMES study for their important contributions. This study was supported by the National Medical Research Council Grants No 0796/2003, 0863/2004 and CSI/0002/2005 and Biomedical Research Council Grant No 501/1/25-5. Additional support was provided by the Singapore Tissue Network and the Ministry of Health, Singapore.
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Islam, F., Nguyen, T., Wang, J. et al. Quantitative retinal vascular calibre changes in diabetes and retinopathy: the Singapore Malay eye study. Eye 23, 1719–1724 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1038/eye.2008.362
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/eye.2008.362
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